pieces passengers escaping through cracks 177 on board, nearly all of them surviving. the deadly back-to-back avalanches, nearly a dozen saved after hours buried in snow rescuers becoming trapped themselves the desperate search tonight for those still missing. the one-time world series mvp looking for a second chance at the hall of fame why pete rose says major league baseball should reinstate him and the powerful winter storm on the move from new mexico to new england al roker tracking it all. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt >> good evening. president trump forever branded with the mark of impeachment will not, however, be removed from office. his politically-charged senate trial ending with votes of acquittal on both articles of impeachment. the senate's republican majority, despite the defection of senator mitt romney, ensuring the outcome and the president's survival

the democratic-led gambit to hold the president accountable for squeezing ukraine to launch politically beneficial investigations ending as most expected hallie jackson is on capitol hill hallie, some dramatic moments late today >> reporter: lester, the president says he will address this vote tomorrow, declaring victory tonight. but this is not the bipartisan acquittal his allies wanted. this vote now closing a chapter that will mark president trump's legacy forever the 4 1/2 month impeachment saga over in just 22 history-making minutes. >> ms. collins, not guilty >> mr. mcconnell, not guilty >> reporter: the president acquitted of abusing power and obstructing congress >> donald john trump be and is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles >> reporter: but the vote was not on party lines, not after utah republican mitt romney chose to convict the president on one of the charges, pressuring ukraine to investigate his political rivals >> the president's purpose was personal and political.

>> reporter: democrats stayed united. >> mr. manchin, guilty >> reporter: how damaging is it that it this is now not a bipartisan acquittal >> it was a bipartisan opposition to the impeachment articles themselves >> reporter: it would have taken 67 senators to remove the president after house democrats impeached him. but given the chamber's republican majority, that always seemed like a nonstarter >> the state of our union is stronger than ever before. [ cheers ] >> reporter: it comes at a moment of bitter partisanship after a state of the union speech that began with an apparent missed handshake and ended with ripped remarks. house speaker nancy pelosi defending her decision to tear up her copy of the president's speech moments after he delivered it >> it was a manifesto of mistruth. >> reporter: vice president pence firing back. >> i think it was a new low. i wasn't sure if she was ripping up the speech or ripping up the constitution >> reporter: the state of our union tonight divided. hallie jackson, nbc news, capitol hill >> reporter: i'm kasie

hunt today senator mitt romney, once the republican presidential nominee, stood as his party's lone voice against president trump. >> mr. romney? >> guilty. >> mr. romney, guilty. >> reporter: voting with democrats in favor of convicting the president of abuse of power >> my faith is at the heart of who i am. i take an oath before god as enormously consequential. i knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision i have ever faced. i was not wrong. >> reporter: romney, who did vote to acquit the president on the second article of impeachment. >> not guilty. >> reporter: became the first senator ever to vote to convict a president of their own party in an impeachment trial. >> what the president did was grievously wrong, and i had to vote, if i was going to live with my own nscience >> reporter: romney's vote a final turn away from his rocky

relationship with the president, who endorsed romney's 2012 presidential bid but ahead of mr. trump's election in 2016, romney denounced him, igniting a firestorm >> donald trump is a phony, a fraud >> you can see how loyal he is. he was begging for my endorsement. >> reporter: the two appeared to make amends when romney was rumored to be in the running for trump's secretary of state, a job romney didn't get two years later winning a senate seat. tonight voting his conscience over his party. >> with my vote i will tell my children, their children that i did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me >> reporter: tonight republican senate leader mitch mcconnell says he was surprise and disappointed by romney's vote. the president's son demanding that romney be expelled from the republican party that's unlikely here, but romney did acknowledge himself that his vote could have consequences. lester >> all right, kasie hunt, thank you. let's bring in chuck todd now chuck, put in perspective for us the

president's acquittal and senator romney's vote to convict. >> look, the one thing we have to understan about this entire impeachment saga it's going to be a seminal moment and seminal period in american history. but politically, it may no have much of an impact, it may help, short term the president could help rally political bases. i do think it is a long-term impact it is down the road that this will have potentially huge consequences whether the president wins re-election or not will have huge consequences the mitt romney decision is a fascinating one for this reason. he is now the president of the republican resistance to donald trump. right now he stands alone. the question will be will he be standing alone a year from now. >> chuck, thanks for the analysis hundreds o americans are back in the u.s. after finally getting out of wuhan, china, where the coronavirus has now killed hundreds and infected tens of thousands. miguel almaguer is at travis air force base in northern california where those americans just arrived miguel, what's the condition of those

evacuees >> reporter: lester, good evening, nearly all the evacuees who arrived at the air force base showed no symptoms of the virus, but there is concern tonight over an infant who does have a fever and is being monitored at a local hospital. the chartered cargo planes arrived at two secure military bases in california, near sacramento and outside san diego. hundreds of americans fleeing wuhan, china, now beginning their 14-day quarantine. >> welcome home. >> reporter: claude and ilona were i wuhan visiting their son and are among the passengers in isolation at traverse air force base >> at the airport, everybody wearing the hazmat suits through the checkpoints, it was very scary >> reporter: the scene in the air, surreal. flight staff donning full hazmat suits. tonight the cdc confirming two more flights carrying americans will soon be headed to secure locations in texas and nebraska for jacob wilson, the flight, a lifeline out of the virus'

epicenter. >> it's going to be our flight for the maybe next 10 hours. >> reporter: with 12 confirmed cases in the u.s. and another 76 under investigation, health officials are taking no chances. >> what keeps me up at night is the potential spread of this virus outside of china >> reporter: tonight this the new reality fighting the virus, threatening lives around the globe miguel almaguer, nbc news, travis air force base >> reporter: i am mollie hunter in hong kong for passengers on two cruise ships, it's total lockdown at the japanese port of yokohama, 3,711 people, including 428 americans, are quarantined on the diamond princess >> we have to be quarantined for 14 days >> reporter: at least 20 confirmed cases on board, including at least one american, now all in the hospital and the rest of the passengers headed back out to sea, but confined to their rooms. >> the people i feel really sorry for are those with inside

cabins who have got no natural light, no fresh air. >> reporter: in hong kong, another cruise ship with nearly 4,000 people is partially quarantined at this hour after 30 crew members started showing symptoms that's the quarantined cruise ship right behind me where passengers say they're going stir crazy officials taking no chances as coronavirus has now spread to 26 countries. lester >> mollie hunter in hong kong, thank you we want to show you now a stunning scene in turkey where a plane trying to land with 177 people on board skidded off a runway, broke apart in several pieces and caught fire. here's nbc's matt bradley. >> reporter: tonight this video showing the crash landing, a packed passenger jet hits the ground, then slides off the runway at an istanbul airport, the aircraft shattering into at least three pieces and bursting into flames moments later some passengers climbing out of cracks in the plane on their own as rescue workers arrived to assist others the pegasus airlines boeing 737 carrying

183 people from turkey's coastal city of izmir landing during a rainstorm in strong winds tonight officials say at least three people were killed. at least 179 were injured. the wreckage looks grisly, but aviation experts say modern planes are made to break up on impact and the death toll could have been higher >> the airplanes from three, four, five decades ago, there probably wouldn't have been any survivors >> reporter: it's not clear what caused the crash, but there will be questions for this budget airline pegasus. it's the third time in two years that one of its planes slid off a runway matt bradley, nbc news now the race for president. all eyes on new hampshire ahead of tuesday's primary, and joe biden going on the attack with more results from iowa showing he still trails in fourth place after that caucus meltdown here's nbc's morgan radford. >> reporter: tonight results from iowa's chaotic caucus are still trickling in, leaving a stunned joe biden scrapping from

an apparent fourth place finish >> i am not going to sugar coat it. we took a gut punch in iowa >> reporter: the former vice-president taking aim at senator bernie sanders >> he calls himself a democratic socialist well, we are already seeing what donald trump is going to do with that. >> reporter: also attacking former south bend mayor pete buttigieg who currently leads the pack in iowa >> i do believe it's a risk, to be just straight up with you, for this party to nominate someone who never held an office higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in indiana. >> reporter: tonight buttigieg pushing back to nbc's stephanie ruhle. >> history has shown that the greatest risk we can take at a moment like this dealing with new and different challenges politically and nationally is to rely on the familiar playbook >> reporter: senator sanders slamming buttigieg's iowa victory lap as premature, pointing to his own caucus success. >> as of 70% of the count, we are winning the popular vote >> reporter: the shakeup on the trail

showing voters just days away from the new hampshire primary that this is still anyone's race morgan radford, nbc news, manchester a massive storm is sweeping across the country. 56 million people under winter weather alerts tonight al roker is tracking it al, where is all this headed >> lester, right now 56 million people are under some sort of winter weather advisory tonight into tomorrow and we've got severe weather possibilities for 35 million people, including the possibility of tornadoes. anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain through the southeast, a quarter of an inch of ice in the northeast and new england. we're talking about snowfall amounts from 2 to 6 inches from the ohio river valley into northern new england airport delays from chicago to new yor and down to atlanta. and, lester, the roads in between will be a mess as well >> all right, al. thank you for keeping an eye on it in florida a state trooper is dead ter a shooting along the highway. authorities say trooper joseph bullock stopped to help a disabled vehicle when

a person who was inside opened fire and killed him police responding to the scene then fatally shot the suspect officials haven't given a motive for the deadly incident. we'll be right back in 60 seconds with one of baseball's all-time greats and a surprise new appeal on his lifetime ban an absolutely

an absolutely horrendous situation playing out tonight in the mountains of turkey where dozens of people were killed in an avalanche here's keir simmons. >> reporter: tonight this stunning video posted on twitter showing what appears to be a dramatic rescue 11 men emerging from a vehicle after six hours. one man stumbling out smiling but weak praise god, they say earlier today frantic scenes in a tragic twist of fate. rescuers sent to save the victims in the first avalanche caught in a second wave of snow we've been buried since this morning, this man says. the two avalanches struck in turkey

some emerging covered in blood and snow. many on stretchers six people died in the first avalanche tuesday. more than 30 wer killed by the second tonight the death toll is expected to rise. among them, police officers and firefighters sent there to save lives. lester >> all right, what an awful situation. all right, thank you the man behind the biggest ponzi scheme in history, bernie madoff, says he's dying from kidney disease and is seeking a compassionate early release from prison. madoff has served 11 years of a 150-year sentence for stealing billions of dollars from investors he says he only has 18 months to live the sixth and final accuser in harvey weinstein's new york rape trial took the stand today. she is also one of two women whose allegations have led to a separate criminal case against weinstein in los angeles here's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: today at harvey weinstein's rape trial in new york, a preview of the sexual assault case against him in l.a

lauren young, an accuser in that case, took the stand as a supporting witness the model says weinstein sexually assaulted her at a hotel in 2013. during a meeting to discuss a screen play, young told the court weinstein asked her to his room so he could get ready for an event. young testified that she followed him into the bathroom as they talked and said he trapped her there blocking the exit with the shower door while he quickly undressed. he pulled down my dress, and i'm saying, no, no, no he said, this is what all actresses do to make it. i was trapped. he then grasped my breasts. sarcastically the defense questioned how fast it happened this big fat man does a ninja tear-off of his clothes faster than anyone you have ever seen and then he turns on the shower? yes. young says she ran out of the hotel and immediately told her friends what happened. and years later went to the police. just two days ago, young said she found the dress she wore that night the defense holding it up dramatically in

court. it has yet to be tested for evidence. weinstein pleaded not guilty to the new york charges and denies any allegations of nonconsensual sex. he hasn't entered a plea yet in california those proceedings won't begin until after this trial is over, regardless of what the jury here decides. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york one of baseball's all-time greats, pete rose, is trying once again to overturn his lifetime ban and become eligible for the hall of fame here's gabe gutierrez. >> left center field >> reporter: he was known as charlie hustle, one of baseball's brightest stars who fell from grace. but tonight pete rose is once again asking for redemption in a new petition, rose and his attorneys argue that since the league has not punished players associated with the houston astros sign stealing scandal, it should end rose's lifetime ban for gambling while he was managing the cincinnati reds. >> whatever you think of whether pete was appropriately punished

30 years ago, many things have transpired since then to suggest that he's being unfairly treated >> reporter: rose holds the major league record for hits, games played and at bats but he's been permanently ineligible for the hall of fame since agreeing to an indefinite suspension in 1989 after an investigation showed he placed illegal bets for years rose denied he did anything wrong. but has since apologized the 78-year-old has unsuccessfully asked to be reinstated before now he's calling his punishment disproportionate because the commissioner did not suspend any astros players for stealing signs on their way to winning the 2017 world series >> how likely is it that pete rose gets a second chance here >> i think it's very unlikely >> reporter: does pete rose deserve to be in the hall of fame >> i think he probably does it left a black eye against baseball, but it's just a matter of people are forgiven for far less things in this day and age >> reporter: no comment tonight from

major league baseball. gabe gutierrez, nbc news up next for us tonight, the shocking confrontation at a school meeting about racism >> you need to leave

angry fallout tonight after a school meeting about racism concerns drew outrage when a comment by one parent to another was deemed racist itself sam brock talks to the family targeted. >> reporter: a school forum in michigan meant to be instructive ended in outrage when one parent interrupted another discussing the racism he says his son experienced.

>> and he was crying because of the abuse that he was enduring in this school system. >> then why didn't you stay in mexico >> reporter: there are instant gasps. >> you need to leave >> other parents jumped in. >> you belong here >> that's indicative of what our kids are experiencing >> reporter: monday's forum held in response to racist comments shared among students on snapchat last month. the saline school district saying in a statement, hate, prejudice and racism have no place in our schools or our community. that racist comment directed at adrian iraola who came to the u.s. 40 years ago and says his kids have been targeted due to their mexican heritage >> that man is showing us clearly that we have a problem >> reporter: tom burtell, the man who asked the question, has not returned nbc's request for comment, but defended the student snapchat comments >> nobody got hurt and that was done off campus >> reporter: this part of a rash of incidents at schools across the

country, from a display of nooses in new york >> speak english we're in america >> reporter: to a texas substitute teacher demanding her students speak english. as for iraola and his daughter nicole, one silver lining. >> what is necessary is the conversation that follows >> reporter: sam brock, nbc news. >> all right we're back in a moment with breaking news on the loss of a hollywood legend

sad news from los angeles this evening one of the all-time greats from hollywood's golden age, kirk douglas, has died at the age of 103. >> reporter: for decades he was one of america's leading men. handsome, charismatic, strong douglas's energy and intensity lit up the screen >> start shooting, kid. >> reporter: born in 1916 in upstate new york, the son of immigrant russian jews, he was married twice and had four sons the oldest, michael, became a star himself. his career spanned five decades acting, producing, even directing a stroke seriously impairing his ability to speak two months after that stroke, kirk douglas stood before his peers at the oscars and received a lifetime achievement award. most expected him only to say thank you and step down. instead, his speech would be one of the most dramatic moments of academy award history. >> i see my four sons.

they are proud of the old man. >> reporter: his wife of 65 years survives him. cynthia mcfadden, nbc news, new york >> truly one of the greats that's "nightly news." i'm lester holt. good night >> julie: i think it's only fitting that since you got engaged here, you should have the wedding reception here, and i have some cracker-jack ideas for you two lovebirds. >> eli: i think gabi's kind of got the ideas covered. >> julie: of course she has. the talented bride. and i promise, i am going to focus on my part of the ceremony, and... i can't tell you how thrilled and touched i am that you want me to officiate. [dishware clinking] and you know what i think is the most wonderful part of all of your wedding plans? that jj is gonna be your best man. [stammers, sighs] it just does my heart good to see the family getting along together so wonderfully.

>> lani: somehow, gabi was able to hack into the device, and with the touch of an app on her phone... [sighs] gabi has the power to... blow up julie's heart. >> jj: so she--she threatened to kill julie if you didn't walk away from eli? >> lani: yeah. that is what gabi is holding over me: julie's life. >> julie: i think it's important in these milestone moments for-- for the family to put aside differences so they can... celebrate life. celebrate love together. don't you agree, jj? jj? >> jj: hmm? >> julie: is something wrong, darling? [indistinct chatter] >> lani: i assume that no news is no news, theo, but i--i

really do hope that you are making progress with disabling this app. [sighs] you do understand the urgency of this, right? you get that gabi can kill julie with it? just--just please call me back as soon as you can, okay? i love you so much, little brother. [knocking on door] [phone beeps] >> kristen: lani? are you in there? it's kristen. open the door. [indistinct chatter] >> brady: i--i'm gonna go. >> kristen: [laughs]